Umno secretary-general Datuk Seri Ahmad Maslan is seen after the party’s Umno Supreme Council meeting at PWTC in Kuala Lumpur April 25, 2021. — Bernama pic
KUALA LUMPUR (Apr 25): Umno is proposing to the government that the Parliament and State Legislative Assemblies reconvene during the Emergency, said Umno secretary-general Datuk Seri Ahmad Maslan.
He said the matter was decided at the Umno Supreme Council meeting today which was also in line with the statement of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah who expressed the view that the Parliament can convene during an Emergency.
Ahmad said the primary rational considered on the matter included that the government cannot be seen as attempting to impede the practice of parliamentary democracy.
“Parliament and the State Legislative Assembly are the platform for check and balance by the people’s representatives so that the government does not act at its whims and fancies leading to the interest and welfare of the people being marginalised today,” he said after the meeting here today.
Earlier, Al-Sultan Abdullah had expressed his view that Parliament could convene during an Emergency in effect now at a date deemed suitable by the Agong on the advice of the Prime Minister.
The matter is enshrined in sub-section 14(1) (b) of the Emergency (Essential Powers) Ordinance 2021 which states that the Parliament shall convene, prorogue and dissolve on such a date as His Majesty deems fit on the advice of the Prime Minister. — Bernama